A Car Blog. Only Angrier

Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Detroit News reports: Ford rolls out summer sales rebates. Poor Ford. No interest financing, big rebates... What's next? A serious attempt at rolling back those huge-ass vehicles for more practical rides? No! It's another serious rebate to reflect the somber mood of having to offer more money back on a series of vehicles that are otherwise not selling. Meaning, they put on a clown costume and offered a rebate based on the year.

An additional $2,007 cash on 2007 trucks and sport utility vehicles, excluding the Ford Edge, Freestyle and E-Series van, and the Lincoln MKX.

It's crap like this that makes us question whether Ford can really turn it around.

It's a tough'un. CNN reports: Car options: Value added, or not. OK, so they pick a bunch of options (safety equipment shouldn't be an option) and decide which are worth getting. We generally agree with the list, but we think the whole built-in DVD stuff is wicked cool and should be on the must have. It's hard to choke up the $2k for navigation when a decent external dealie is just $300.

Jalopnik reports: Spy Photos: 2008 Honda Accord. Dammit, come on, Honda. We expect more from you. And this isn't a knock on Hyundai ('cause they are kicking arse all over the place), it's more an issue with the lack of imagination from the folks at Honda. They've done such a great job with the Civic, Fit and CR-V (which is hellasnazzy) that we're quite disappointed in the Accord. At least from the pics we've seen. At a quick glance. While we were busy.

Look, Cads... Can we call you Cads? Lexus is indeed a worthy foe, but just because they are making silly hybrids doesn't mean you should, too. Let Lexus make those silly things while we refine, refine, refine your gasoline engines. If you want to go for a surprise, come out with a clean diesel that'll do 50 mpg on the highway.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The Detroit News reports: Big Three retiree benefits at risk. Remember that deal you had with the company that said if you worked for 30 years they'd do this and that? So you worked your 30 years and now... This is cat food and it tastes pretty OK on toast.

OK, seriously, this isn't an auto industry issue. Healthcare is going to become, if it hasn't already, a national issue. And why folks are siding with big business over this issue is mind-boggling to us.

In unrelated news, big business has taken back Saturday as a regular work day.

AutoWeek reports: Helping Hummer. Even if GM was to somehow, miraculously double a Hummer's fuel economy, it would still be shite. The H2, by GM's estimate, averages 14 mpg. So now we'd be talking 28. Party time!

Oh, we've poked plenty of fun at GM's car dude Bob Lutz, but apparently he's thrown his big balls around enough to get some decent cars made. Ford needs to get its own Lutz action figure and clean up the mess that is Lincoln. Hell, all of Ford. Ford's exteriors are OK (unoffensive if nothing else), but interiors? Yikes!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

CNN reports: No test dummies. So Ford CEO Alan Mulally goes to watch Consumer Reports kick some Ford ass as it tests Ford products (good for Mulally for doing a little hands-on observation action). Here's a bit from the article

Overall, [David]Champion said CR rates Ford's models as the best made in Detroit, but he gave lower marks for the newest one, the Edge. "It is disappointing," Champion told Mulally. "The interior fit and finish is poor, the steering woolly, and the design of the tailgate makes it very hard to lift."

In other news, David Champion is our new hero. Or champion. That's a totally made up name. Come on! Champion? WTF.

By the way, we never liked the Edge's interior, either. When we got our asses in the thing in April '06 we said

The Edge will be a 2007 model. While it's true Ford has the Freestyle crossover, Ford decided to make another one, but just a bit smaller. The Edge has a lot of plusses: better power, better looks... that's it. Is it enough? We spent a lot of time in the Edge and, honestly, we liked looking at it better than being in it. Ford nailed the exterior design, but they must have run out of money when it came time to work on the interior. The interior will be (has to be) the focus of the next redesign. It's quite poor.